Bluemarble (Q2182)
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| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Bluemarble |
No description defined |
Statements
Observing the crowd at the Elysée Montmartre, one got the impression that Bluemarble’s 68K-plus followers would show up in droves whether it showed its wares in Paris or on the moon.This season, guests included NBA star Jaren Jackson Jr., who posed for photographers wearing an extra-long-sleeved T-shirt from the fall 2024 collection. “When you put this on, it just kind of forces you to have it all ready,” he said, allowing that his “mall-sized” closet is stocked with a good number of pieces. Several people turned up in one of the brand’s whopper hats: backstage, designer Anthony Alvarez noted that demand for those has been such that, come September, the brand will introduce a hat capsule.Now that Bluemarble is five-years-old and growing fast, Alvarez noted that he had been thinking about how to break new boundaries. The butterfly effect, borrowed from chaos theory—for example, how a simple flutter of wings might alter weather patterns—was one throughline.That visual metaphor somehow resulted in a camo designed to pop, in green or orange-red iterations, perhaps paired with a chapka flopping with feather trim, a matching gilet and a cargo skirt that pointed to how Bluemarble is expanding for its female fans. Equally universal was a zebra-striped ensemble in soft, ozone-treated fabric heavily encrusted with rhinestones. Those pieces had all the makings of cult-like signifiers. So did lavishly embroidered trousers with, variously, large-scale floral motifs or a trompe l’oeil wallet keychain with a crystal key pointing sassily to the crotch.But there were also plenty of options for the more subtle dressers out there: these included structured dry knits, tanks and tees for layering, starburst sweaters, structured coats and tailored trousers that flared slightly at the hem. Of a first loafer, Alvarez said he was “mixing the best of both worlds” by blending a traditional shape with punk coils and a plaque at the heel. Those looked strong, as did an oversized canvas carryall inspired by the ones postal workers used to use. Here and there, lengthy message patches quoted the astronaut Alexander Gerst, who said: “From up here it is crystal clear that on Earth we are one humanity.” From the front row, Bluemarble’s path looks pretty clear, too.
21 June 2024
In a nod to his Filipino heritage, Anthony Alvarez seized onPerfumed Nightmare,a cult 1979 film by indie director Kidlat Tahimik about a young jeepney driver fascinated by the American space program of a decade earlier, and used that as a springboard for a meditation about our place in the galaxy.“It’s really about humanity, dreams, and curiosity,” the designer observed. Unity, Earth as seen from outer space, and the Voyager Golden Record were all part of a story he summed up as “a space age take on everyday chic.” Apollo 11 and the lunar landing plaque (“We come in peace for all mankind”) made cameos too.The collection—like the Hello Kitty-meets-Blade Runner set forested with satellite disks and maneki-neko waving cats—was by turns funky, wearable, or straight-up out there. Shirts designed to be worn as long tunics or folded into a shorter version were studded with rhinestones, metallic bombers in coated nylon had quilted embroidery, and archival space images cropped up on message shirts with the words “bon voyage” printed in French and Tagalog.Here, as elsewhere this week, shine was a big through line, from denim with crystal embellishments or metallic paneling, to puffers in silver or bronze. Tailored outerwear in primary colors looked strong; a wave-like design in turquoise or purple jacquard nodded to jeepney graphics.In a statement shoe season, Alvarez gamely offered up a hybrid Odyssey boot with metallic hiking trim that can be unlaced, leaving the lower part free to do double duty as a slipper, while Celesta sneakers had heavy-duty soles. The OTT part came in outsized galactic hats to go with faux-fur peignoir coats depicting an alien’s-eye view of our planet and mythical Filipino dragons that looked like extras straight out ofMen in Black.A little all over the map, but all in good fun.
18 January 2024
Bluemarble’s Anthony Alvarez has Filipino, Spanish, and French heritages, and was born in New York City. The music at his show tonight included Whitney Houston, Nina Simone, Rosalia, and Three 6 Mafia. His references included a “West Coast vibe,” family superstitions, dreams, and Hawaiian prints.The idea of mélange comes organically to Alvarez, and he’s made it an intrinsic quality of Bluemarble. Now in its fifth year, the label is starting to shed its “emerging” skin. “There’s a more grown-up feeling in this collection,” he said backstage, “I wanted to dress up a little more.” But as menswear dresses up—scroll downVogueRunway and you’ll see tailored jackets opening most shows this season—and as Bluemarble starts to mature, Alvarez is determined to preserve the youthful, freewheeling spirit that has defined his work so far. “I want to still keep the forever-young spirit. I want to be just teetering the edge,” he added.This is where today’s special date comes into play: It’s the first day of summer and the Fête de la Musique is happening here in Paris—the stage was set for Alvarez’s own festival with a mood that was a little trippy, even topsy-turvy, but still charming.California nostalgia made an apt vehicle in which to explore the tension between youth and sophistication. Suits were paired with extra long t-shirts, tailored jackets and trousers were hybridized with tracksuits via varsity details in silk, and dress shirts came bedazzled with playful stardust motifs. Board shorts, cargo pants, and trousers were decorated with crystals arranged in spiral patterns, in reference to the spiral shell from Corsica known as the “Eye of Saint Lucie,” a good luck charm. Most compelling were the graphic tees ripped down the chest and held together by chains, and a run of unbuttoned, collarless shirts fastened with skateboard buckles—you could picture someone like Sebastian Yatra, who sat front row, wearing either. For his prints, Alvarez placed hibiscus artwork over an acid trip background, before adding some studs, and bedazzled cheetah spots with tiny crystals. These made good examples of his magpie hand, and it would have been interesting to see them mixed with the tailoring.As fashion grapples with notions of masculinity, we continue to see lots of boyishness on the runway (the season’s look so far is dad’s blazer paired with tiny shorts), but there was none of that at Blumarble.
Instead, and to Alvarez’s credit, the Blumarble vision of youthfulness exists beyond age.
21 June 2023
Anthony Alvarez is on a roll. Having been a semifinalist for last year’s LVMH Prize, then scooping the ANDAM Pierre Bergé award in July, he’s currently on the shortlist for the 2023 International Woolmark Prize, and he included five of the looks he made for that competition as part of Bluemarble’s fall outing. One, a mock-neck black jacquard sweater, bore a “psychedelic” Venetian mask that illustrates this collection’s carnival theme. But it wasn’t just in reference to Venice’s annual extravaganza; it was more about how, in his mind’s eye, that event relates to its American counterpart: Mardi Gras in New Orleans.“It’s always been a dream of mine to go,” the designer offered during a pre-show interview. “Coming from a French-American background I want to see the connection between the US and Europe. They both have their history and aesthetic, but both are about celebration and unity, which are important to Bluemarble as well.”Carnivals are all about costumes, and there was plenty here—hot colors! sequined camouflage! faux fur rainbow coats!—to inspire Bluemarble customers to get their color, prints, and shine on. But Alvarez tends not to focus on just a single destination, and his clothes are similarly multi-hyphenate. One top in Merino wool, a Woolmark entry, was hand-embroidered and came with a removable wool scarf embellished with a snake; that item was inspired by a bandana the designer picked up in the Philippines. American classics (workwear) mixed with European savoir-faire (embroidery). Even seemingly straightforward pieces had an intricate backstory: a pair of cotton denims was ozone-treated to achieve their specific shade of turquoise; likewise, a chestnut “Dad coat” was pre-distressed for a more lived-in effect.A khaki jacket embroidered with glass bead lozenges was one of a handful of pieces shown on female models, a first for a brand that, while officially menswear, mostly skews inclusive. Putting women on the runway was a last-minute decision, the designer said, but women have been on board since the outset. Elsewhere, skater pants reworked in suiting fabrics while striped button-downs were decked out with wave motifs in rhinestones; festooned 3D-printed sunglasses came with marble embellishments. Like any worthwhile carnival, the overall effect was loud, colorful, and a whole lot of fun.
18 January 2023
Anthony Alvarez is on a roll. You could see it in the crowd preening and posting as they waited outside the posh lycée Molière, where his spring 2023 Bluemarble show was held. And you could feel it backstage just minutes before the show.The starting point was a dream of going back in time to the California desert to experience the Monterey festival, the designer explained. What he discovered there: "hippie cultures, joy, and celebration."Those vibes, spliced with riffs on his own era— the late 1990s and 2000s—yielded some pretty fantastic clothes. Patchworks of four-hearted clovers and the kind of sunbursts that trippy festival goers might have seen at the time converged on what Alvarez described as “a big blend of inspirations” that yields several vestiaires in one, but always with a touch of eccentricity.The highlights: baggy skater pants with sequined cuffs or rhinestone suns, reversible jewel-tone varsity jackets, hoods spliced onto shirts and oversized flowers embroidered on workwear. Throw in a dash of French artisanal craft, a smidge of classicism in the trenches and shirting, and you've got the mix. Improbable as they sound, even laced sandals with wave details, made of surplus leather, perhaps in cosmic violet, had a certain allure.Alvarez called it the New Paris Attitude. "Part of the collection is me, and part of it is what fascinates me; it’s what I’d love to see on people," the designer offered. To a piece, it worked.
22 June 2022
On December 7, 1972, the crew of the Apollo 17 shot a photograph of the Earth as they headed to the Moon. Taken from a distance of 29,000 kilometers, it was the first image of the whole Earth, fully illuminated. It went on to become one of the most widely circulated photographs in history, known as theBlue Marble, since it made our planet look like a glassy blue marble.The story appealed to Anthony Alvarez, a globe-trotting 29-year-old born in New York to a Filipino father with Spanish heritage and a French mother with Italian Corsican roots. In 2019, he borrowed the name for his fledgling label, having abandoned a career in finance to travel the world and then set up a fashion line in Paris (prior to Blue Marble, he briefly launched and ran a streetwear brand called One Culture). “For me, the photograph was so inspiring for what it represented: The whole world connected. It represents the values of the brand: Multiculturalism, travel, escapism,” Alvarez explained, speaking during a break between fittings ahead of his second in-person catwalk showing and his first on the official Paris schedule.American sportswear, European savoir-faire, and Filipino artisanal touches are all in the mix for fall 2022. Alvarez’s starting point was the colorful sails of the traditional vinta boats that originally hail from the Philippine island of Mindanao. “I try to go back through my memories for every collection,” he says. “I had this dream of taking off, crossing the Pacific Ocean.” In juicy shades of yellow, purple, and pink, the geometric patterns of the sails take the form of a series of oversized parka jackets. Emphasis on juicy. “It was important with the colors for them to feel warm, even though it’s winter,” he said.That same free spirit persists in eccentric knitted hats made in France, surfer-style ankle boots with foam soles and dead stock faux-fur uppers, funky ’90s reflective sunglasses, and a purple faux-fur leopard print hoodie-coat that is one of Alvarez’s favorite pieces. These are in turn offset by densely embroidered wardrobe classics inspired by traditional Filipino embroidery in Lumban. A navy mohair cardigan dotted with mother-of-pearl buttons and rhinestones and handworked in India sits alongside crystal and button-embellished baggy jeans, manufactured in France and Tunisia.
Elsewhere, the naval theme is more literally interpreted in buttoned sailor pants, marinières with removable collars, and mariner-style weekend bags, made from dead stock fabrics.There’s a lot going on, but the looks come together via the collection’s streetwise edge. Alvarez is into skateboarding and surfing, regularly parsing the dudes skating round Place de la République, near where he lives, for inspiration. There’s an element of accessibility in the oversized tie-dye sweaters, the crochet-trim knits, even in the Swarovski crystal-splattered shirting, that stops things veering too much into experimental territory. Timothée Chalamet, who was photographed in November wearing a tie-dye hoodie from the spring collection which Alvarez has wisely carried over, would be in heaven.
18 January 2022